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Worlds 

Greatest 

Hotel 

1=] 



Copyright, 19 19, by 
E.\ L. Harriett, Inc. 



• • • 

• • * 



JAN is \m * 



©CLASH 33 2 



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$15,000,000 



COMMONWEALTH 
HOTEL CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION 



Incorporated under the Laws of the State of Delaware 

Common Stock Par Value $100 Per Share 

Full Paid and Non-Assessable 

No Preferred Stock 



Broadway 

Just Above 

Times Square 

The Entire 

Block Between 

Fifty-Fifth 

and 

Fifty-Sixth 

Streets 




Broadway 

Through the 

Entire Block 

to 

Seventh Avenue 

Facing on 

Four 

Streets 



The World's Greatest Hotel 
and Co-operative Enterprise. 
34 Stories High— 2500 Rooms. 



TO BE BUILT BY THE COMMON WEALTH 
TO BE MANAGED FOR THE COMMON GOOD 
TO BE OPERATED FOR THE COMMON BENEFIT 



A Great Co-operative Enterprise for the 

Profit of the Many Rather Than 

for the Cain of the Few. 



The World's Greatest Hotel 

PROMPTED by the thought of the benefits and 
profits resulting from co-operation, the idea of a 
great hotel — the greatest hotel in the world — was con- 
ceived and born, and has been matured, until today it 
is an actuality, and on the highroad to success. 

The Hotel Commonwealth idea is not new — except 
in detail — it is based on a principle as old as the hilta, 
and as sound as the Rock of Ages. 

To be built by the money of its thousands of stock- 
holders, on their own land, the gigantic Hotel Common- 
wealth will satisfy every want of hotel life — will furnish 
the privileges of an exclusive club — while at the same time 
returning to its member-owners all the profits. 

Projected on solid, well tested business lines, it will 
make money from the very beginning — it should have no 
equal in this respect — for what it makes will enrich 
neither banker nor landlord. 

Free from rent and interest charges, its revenues, 
beyond actual costs for maintenance and supplies, will 
belong and go to the stockholders. 

The People Behind It 

The Commonwealth Hotel Construction Corporation, 
in its Fiscal Agents, E. L. Barnett, Inc., has a firm 
composed of men of unquestioned character and financial 
responsibility. And behind E. L. Barnett, Inc., are 
many of the largest and best known concerns in the 

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THE WORLD'S GREATEST HOTEL 



UtlKZS'&Wof 



United States — some of their names are household words 
throughout this country — and they all stand for integrity 
and success in business. Among these companies are 
found the following: 

The General Electric Co., General Fireproofing Co., 
Otis Elevator Co., Worthington Pump Co., Gorham 
Co. — Architectural Bronze, J. L. Mott Iron Works, 
W. G. Cornell Co., L. K. Comstock & Co., Almirall 
& Co., American Radiator Co., American Laundry Ma- 
chinery Co., John Gill & Sons Co., John Simmons Co., 
Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co., Babcock & Wilcox Co., 
Jewett Refrigerator Co., A. M. Byers Co., Sterling 
Bronze Co., Wm. H. Jackson Co., Haviland & Abbot 
Co., and many others of equal prominence. 

The combined capital of these Companies is over 
$200,000,000, and it is they who have co-operated to 
supply the funds needed to organize and push the work 
in its incipiency. 

Plan of Financing 

It is proposed to raise $15,000,000 by selling stock 
in the Commonwealth Hotel Construction Corporation 
at $ 1 00 per share, no person being allowed to subscribe 
for more than ten shares in his own name. 

In this way, the largest possible number of people will 
be interested, and a clientele for the hotel will automatic- 
ally be created. 

Securing the required money from over 50,000 people 
in amounts of $100 to $1,000 is better than getting it 
in large sums from capitalists, for the following reasons : — 

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AND CO-OPERATIVE ENTERPRISE 



IIIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIHIIIIIIIlinilllllllllllllllM 

( 1 ) It is far less expensive — excessive commissions 
do not have to be paid — preferred stock does not take 
the cream of the dividends — and mortgages are un- 
necessary. 

(2) The annual fixed charge on the capital from 
financing an enterprise of this kind in the usual way is 
about $1,000,000 — the annual fixed charge for capital 
in financing the Hotel Commonwealth is nothing at all. 

(3) A vast number of people all over the United 
States will have a financial interest in the prosperity of 
the hotel, so that it will be self-advertising, as each share- 
holder will be an enthusiastic booster. 

The Saving in Investment 

While the Hotel Commonwealth will have nearly 
double the number of rooms of almost any hotel in the 
world, yet the total investment will be about the same as 
that of any other big New York hotel having only one 
half, or less than one half the capacity. 

The saving in the property investment is largely in the 
cost of the site, although a great saving will also be af- 
fected in financing and building the hotel, as well as in 
equipping it. 

For instance, the saving in financing is about half the 
usual cost, and the saving in rent will equal 6% divi- 
dends, besides the 20% rebates for shareholding-mem- 
bers. What other hotels apply to rental, interest and 
carrying charges, the Hotel Commonwealth will apply 
to dividends and rebates. 

IIIUIIIftlllllllllltlllltllllltllllllltlflllllttllllBllllltlltlltllllllllllllltllitlltlltllllltlllllllltlllllllllttlllllllllltllllllllllltllllllllllitI 

THE WORLD'S GREATEST HOTEL 



■ " ■ 



JllllllllllllllllllllllllllllilllllllllllllllSllllllllllllllllllflilliillil^ 

Although the site for the Hotel Commonwealth is par- 
ticularly desirable in every respect, it is not necessary, 
since the hotel's patronage is assured, to purchase a more 
expensive site, solely for its advertising value. This 
saving, as compared to the cost of the sites of other large 
hotels, will amount to several million dollars. 

As an investment, however, the site which has been 
selected is remarkably good, because the trend of real 
estate development on Manhattan Island is now con- 
stantly northward, and values in the immediate vicinity 
of the site are increasing rapidly. 

That, of course, is logical, when it is considered that 
the value of the site itself has greatly increased, accord- 
ing to authorities, who estimate that it is worth today 
$250,000 more than the price paid for it. 

Unique Features 

In addition to the usual accommodations to be found 
in a first-class hotel, there will be certain features in the 
Hotel Commonwealth which will especially appeal to the 
shareholding-members and their guests. 

Shareholders will be entitled to special privileges, and 
they will find such comforts and conveniences as are 
usually only to be found at exclusive clubs. 

For instance, there are to be reading rooms, smoking 
rooms, a gymnasium, squash courts, handball courts, 
an indoor golf course, Turkish and Russian baths, a 
swimming pool, billiard rooms, and the like. 

There will be separate floors for bachelors, making the 

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AND COOPERATIVE ENTERPRISE 



I 

hotel desirable as a permanent lodging for gentlemen, 
providing them with all the attractions of a club house. 
And, instead of paying dues, the shareholding-member 
will receive dividends. 

There will be a separate floor for unattended women. 
A nursery and attendants will be provided for small 
children. There will be a hospital with physicians and 
trained nurses. And there will be separate floors and 
large display rooms for buyers and salesmen. 

Shopping Bureau 

There is now a Hotel Commonwealth Shopping Bu- 
reau in Greater New York, having over a hundred high 
grade stores listed, through which shareholders can secure 
substantial discounts on merchandise bought, and the in- 
tention is to establish Shopping Bureaus in other parts 
of the country as fast as practicable. 

This feature of the Hotel Commonwealth co-operative 
plan is proving especially profitable to both in and out-of- 
town stockholders — in many instances the saving effected 
on purchases through the Shopping Bureau stores will 
more than equal the cost of Hotel Commonwealth stock. 

Restaurants and Dining Rooms 

That the Hotel Commonwealth may satisfy the wishes 
of every guest, it is intended to conduct restaurants on 
three different plans. 

There is to be a restaurant De Luxe, in which the 
cuisine, the service and appointments will equal the most 
famous dining places of the world, and the prices will be 

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THE WORLD'S GREATEST HOTEL 



lillllllllllllllilllillllllllM 

in keeping with the usual charges in the finest hotels and 
restaurants. 

In another restaurant, meals are to be served a la carte 
at popular prices; and the plans call for other dining 
rooms with table d'hote service at moderate prices. Then 
there are to be a grill and men's cafe, as well as private 
dining rooms. 

Rooms and Room Rates 

The Hotel Commonwealth will be designed to meet the 
desires of every person who may visit New York City. 

The price of rooms will be lower than in any other 
first-class hotel. The plans call for a large number of 
single rooms with bath, which can be let at the rate of 
$1 .50 per day, and other rooms at from $2.00 to $5.00. 
Rooms will also be arranged in suites, varying from two 
rooms and bath up to any desired size, and the prices 
of these will range from $5.00 per day upwards. 

The assurance of the constant patronage of its own 
shareholders, or business sent by them, will enable the 
Hotel Commonwealth to provide first-class accommoda- 
tions at lower prices than other New York hotels of 
similar character. 

Preference will be given to Hotel Commonwealth 
shareholders in the reservation of rooms. 

The aim is to make the hotel truly democratic, repre- 
senting that easy comradeship of all classes characteristic 
of American life, where those who have much and those 

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AND CO-OPERATIVE ENTERPRISE 



who have little money to spend can be made equally 
at home. 

Dividends and Rebates 

Aside from dividends of 6%, and, in all likelihood, 
substantial additional dividends, all holders of shares 
in the Hotel Commonwealth will be entitled to a rebate 
up to 20% on any bills they may incur and pay for food 
and lodging, and upon all similar expenditures by persons 
presenting a stockholder's card of introduction. 

The provisions* for rebates to stockholders have been 
carefully considered. The Hotel Company, when its 
stock is fully subscribed, is to be subject neither to rent 
nor fixed interest charges. It secures the patronage of its 
shareholders and their friends with slight expense for 
advertising. 

These rebates are payable only out of net earnings, 
at the end of each fiscal year. They cannot, in any 
event, place a burden of debt on the Company. They 
are based only on expenditures for food and lodging, of 
which a reasonable estimate can be formed, and not on 
the uncertain and varying incidentals. 

If the hotel is filled regularly by its own shareholders, 
and those introduced by them, to the exclusion of the 
general public, the Company can, out of such business, 
pay 20% rebates, in addition to 6% dividends, and have 
an ample surplus left for additional dividends. 

Assuming, however, that approximately one-fourth 
the patronage of the hotel came from the general public, 
which patronage would carry no such rebates, and that 

If illllllllllllllllf lllltllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllltlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllfllllMlllff lltlttl 

THE WORLD'S GREATEST HOTEL 



IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIM 

the gross annual income from food and lodging alone 
were $4,000,000 (with an additional $1 ,000,000 from 
other sources of revenue), the rebate on this basis would 
be $600,000. 

12% of Gross Income 

That would be but 12% of the gross income, which 
is less than one-half the rent or equivalent charges of many 
large New York hotels. Comparing the sum of $600,000 
with the rental value alone of the Hotel Commonwealth, 
it is obvious that the provision for rebates is entirely feasi- 
ble, since it is* but 4% on the total contemplated invest- 
ment, and is by no means likely to exhaust the net earn- 
ings of the Company. 

This provision, moreover, is likely to bring an amount 
of business 1 to the hotel that would largely, if not entirely, 
offset the expense imposed on the Company by the rebates. 
A large benefit is thus obtainable by the stockholders 
without the placing of any real burden on the Hotel 
Company. 

The Builders 

The Hotel Commonwealth will be designed, built, 
decorated, equipped and furnished throughout under the 
Hoggson Building Method, a single contract covering 
all work, at a limited cost determined upon and guar- 
anteed in advance. Any saving made beyond the cost 
limit stipulated by the contract is to be returned to the 
Hotel Company. 

This Single Contract Method of building was orig- 
inated by W. J. Hoggson, who is President of E. L. 

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AND CO-OPERATIVE ENTERPRISE 



lllllillllllllllllllllllllllllllllilllllllllllllllllllillllllllllllllllllllllllllH 

Barnett, Inc., and has been in practical operation for a 
quarter of a century in all sections of the country. Hun- 
dreds of banks and other buildings throughout the United 
States have been erected under the Hoggson Building 
Method. 

The guarantee that the Hotel Commonwealth, fully 
equipped, shall not exceed the cost fixed upon, will be 
one of the great factors in protecting the shareholders' 
investment. 

The Architects 

The firms of Starrett & Van Vleck and King & Camp- 
bell, of New York, who have many important buildings 
to their credit, are the architects of the Hotel Common- 
wealth. 

The Manager 

Mr. H. L. Merry, formerly of the firm of Merry 
& Boomer, who is one the most prominent hotel managers 
in the world (having been associated in the management 
of the McAlpin and Claridge Hotels in New York, 
and leading hostelries in Boston, New Haven, and else- 
where), has been employed by the Company to assist 
in the initial planning. By a separate contract he is 
already engaged to act during the entire work of con- 
struction and equipment, and he is also to be Manager 
of the Hotel Commonwealth when it is completed. 

The Hotel Commonwealth will be one of the very 
few hotels to have in its initial planning and development 
the benefit of the wide, practical experience of a man 

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THE WORLD'S GREATEST HOTEL 



long trained in the actual problems of hotel operation. 
Therefore, it will be a practical, intelligently planned 
hotel, and not a theoretical dream. 

Investment Value of Hotels 

That New York's large hotels are paying investments 
will not be disputed by anyone who has visited the city 
and seen for himself, or read newspaper accounts of the 
overcrowded condition of the establishments which now 
serve the public. 

Capital into the millions would not be invested in such 
enterprises by hard-headed business men unless the invest- 
ment were absolutely safe and the returns unusually at- 
tractive. 

Sufficient proof of this is contained in the fact that 
practically all of the great hostelries in the United States 
are controlled by a small group of financiers, or owned 
by wealthy estates. 

Capital is always conservative, and New York's big 
hotels were built only because capitalists were convinced 
of the complete safety and profitability of the investment. 
Yet, in the case of other New York hotels, operated 
privately, the calculated earnings were necessarily based 
upon having the hotel only partially filled. 

In the case of the Hotel Commonwealth, with over 
50,000 stockholders — each one a potential patron — each 
one a booster and advertiser for his own hotel — capacity 
business is assured throughout the entire year, without 
taking into consideration the patronage of the general 
public. 

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AND CO-OPERATIVE ENTERPRISE 



IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP 

The Shareholders 

Among the thousands of persons who have already 
subscribed for Hotel Commonwealth stock are to be 
found the names of prominent bankers, brokers, insurance 
men, merchants, manufacturers, railroad officials, doctors, 
ministers, professors, lawyers, etc., etc. 

The roster of present Hotel Commonwealth stock- 
holders is like a new edition of "Who's Who in Amer- 
ica." Big people everywhere quickly recognized the 
money-making opportunity offered them, and promptly 
availed themselves of the privilege to subscribe, although 
none of them were permitted to take more than ten shares. 

Limiting the number of shares held in any one name 
will enable an army of wide-awake, progressive people 
to own a membership interest in the greatest Hotel-Club 
in the world, and to participate in the profits that should 
inevitably result after the hotel begins operating. 

It will thus be seen that the central idea throughout 
is co-operation — co-operation on the part of the firms 
supplying the initial funds — co-operation on the part of 
the shareholders — and co-operation on the part of the 
patrons of the hotel — for the large number of shareholders 
alone will supply a permanent body of patrons. 

The idea is simple and practical — that it is a big idea 
does not react against it — for big things are being done in 
America right along. 

*■ * # 



IIIIIMflltlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllltllllllllllllllllSllllllIlflllllllllllllltlflllfllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllflllllllllllllllllllltlflfll 

THE WORLD'S GREATEST HOTEL 



The Site 

The site for the Hotel Commonwealth is unrivaled as a location 
for the World's Greatest Hotel, situated, as it is, on the crest of a 
slight hill on Broadway, just north of Times Square. 

As a matter of fact, realty experts say that the land as assembled 
is already worth $250,000 (nearly 7%) more than it cost, and it 
will continue to increase in value, so that the year's arduous labor 
spent in assembling the property is well repaid. 



53 IS] 
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There are to be entrances from the hotel directly into two sub- 
ways, which, with adjacent elevated, surface lines and Fifth Avenue 
buses, make it one of the easiest accessible points in the city — 
especially from either the Grand Central or Pennsylvania Stations. 

The beautiful view from the hotel northward over Central Park 
will prove one of its great attractions; and scores of the leading 
thtatres, as well as Fifth Avenue shops, two blocks away, may be 
reached in a few moments' walk. 




^he Pennsylvania Terminal, 33 d Street, NexoYork, which cares for as many 
as 250,000 travelers in a single day — within five minutes' ride of the Hotel 
Commonwealth on either subway or surface lines. 




The Grand Central Terminal, 42d Street, NewYork, which cares for as many 
as 300,000 travelers in a single day — within five minutes' ride of the Hotel 
Commonwealth on either subway or surface lines. 



Hotel Commonwealth 

18 East 41st Street, New York 

SITE 

Broadway, 55th St., 56th St. and Seventh Ave., New York City 
[Just above Times Square] 

ARCHITECTS 

STARRETT & VAN VLECK 

AND 

KING & CAMPBELL 

New York 
MANAGER 

H. L. MERRY 

Formerly of Merry &. Boomer 
Managers Hotel McAlpin and Hotel Claridge, New York 

PRESIDENT 

J. A. ALMIRALL 

President, Almirall &. Company, Inc. 
FISCAL AGENTS 

E. L BARNETT, Inc. 

Among whose Stockholders are : 
General Electric Co., Otis Elevator Co., General Fire- 
proofing Co., American Radiator Co., Worthington Pump 
Co., Pittsburg Plate Glass Co., Babcock & Wilcox Co., J. L. 
Mott Iron Works, American Laundry Machinery Co. 
John Simmons Co., Jewett Refrigerator Co., Gorham Co. 
Architectural Bronze, John Gill <Sl Sons Co., W. G. 
Cornell Co., L. K. Comstock & Co.,W. J. Hoggson, Pres't., 
[Formerly President of Hoggson Bros. ] and others. 



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You Can Buy One to Ten Shares 

Hotel Commonwealth Stock 

on Monthly Payment 

Plan as Follows: 



First 


Number 


Monthly 


ayment 


of Shares 


Payment 


$20 


one 


$10 


40 


two 


20 


60 


three 


30 


80 


four 


40 


100 


five 


50 


120 


six 


60 


140 


seven 


70 


160 


eight 


80 


180 


nine 


90 


200 


ten 


100 



1 IMPORTANT NOTICE 

No more than ten shares will be sold in the name of 
any one person, and price of $100 per share is good for 
| a limited time only. | 

We reserve the right to reject any subscriptions, and 
| also reserve freedom in making allotments. 

After filling out the attached subscription blank, tear 
it off, and preserve this booklet for future reference. 

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




001 505 



805 5 % 



Conservation Resources 
Lig-Free® Type I 
Ph 8.5, Buffered 



